


Hindsight is 20/20

by Firenza



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Guilt, Hurt/Comfort, Ned doesn’t steal the tree, canon character death, no editing we die like men, spoilers for epi. 25, touch starved
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-19
Updated: 2019-04-19
Packaged: 2020-01-16 06:25:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18515746
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Firenza/pseuds/Firenza
Summary: No matter how badly he wants to take that sculpture and get Boyd out of his hair, he just can’t seem to bring himself to do it.





	Hindsight is 20/20

The floorboard creaks softly as Ned lifts it from its place, causing him to wince at the sudden noise. Underneath, a locked safe lays face up. A safe that most likely contained the sculpture Boyd wanted. The knob temps him to open the safe, calling him to unlock it and get Boyd out of his hair once and for all. Honestly, the thought was tantalizing.

He pushes the board back into place forcefully. What was he thinking? He couldn’t steal from Mama. Not from one of the few people who had put so much trust in him. Ned sits cross legged on the ground and runs a hand through his graying hair. 

The only thing he truly wanted to get back from Boyd was the pendent they’d stolen from Aubrey so that he could return it. Never before had he felt such guilt for completing a robbery; but he’d been clean for years and he knew the person who he had robbed. Not only that, but the fire that had stated had consequently caused her mother to die. That pendent didn’t belong to him or Boyd. It was Aubrey’s and Aubrey’s alone. 

Maybe he could try to barter something else. The van, perhaps? No, Boyd said he was trying to go home. He couldn’t use that in England. Everything of value in the Cryptonomica had been stolen by Boyd, so he already had those. He racks his brain, trying to come up with literally anything else that he could use.

“Hey, Ned?” A voice shatters his thoughts. He turns his head to see Dani standing in the doorway. “What’re you doing there on the floor?”

Ned sighs. No need to tell her the truth. “Mama send me up here to find her laptop.” Using the desk as support, he pushes to his feet. “She said that it would be in here on her desk, but I haven't been able to find it. I don’t think it’s here.”

Dani wrinkles her forehead. “Well... that’s strange. Need any help looking?”

He shakes his head. “No. No thank you. I was just about to head back down to report my failure.” 

“Oh, alright,” She shrugs. “Hope you find it.” She says as she walks away.

“Me too,” Ned mumbles. He brushes aside a few loose pieces of paper as if the clunky laptop could even possibly be hiding beneath them. 

As he turns to leave, he glances behind him one last time. Now that he knows the loose floorboard is there, his eyes are immediately drawn to it. One final time, the contents within tempt him. He shakes off the feeling, exits the office, and heads back to the cellar. 

\-----

The next morning, Ned is woken up by a loud knock at the door. He grumbles as he looks at the clock. 8:23 was way too early to be woken up like this. Grabbing a robe from the back of his door, he exits his bedroom.

He trudges downstairs to see Kirby already answering the door. At least one of them was responsible. Figuring that Kirby has the situation under control, Ned turns to go back upstairs. 

Kirby and the person at the door talk for a few moments before Kirby calls into the house. “Ned! Ned! Get down here!”

Ned groans and heads back down the stairs. “I’m coming. I’m coming,” he gripes under his breath. All of his friends knew not to wake him any time before 9:30. What could someone possibly want this early in the morning that they had to get him out of bed? 

A chilling breeze drifts in from outside, and he tightens the robe around his body. Kirby stands at the door, looking increasingly nervous. Duck, Aubrey, and Mama stand on the porch, worried expressions painted on their faces. Ned sighs as he sees them. “Don’t just stand there,” he says motioning them into the building. Aubrey rushes in first, eager to get out of the cold. Mama and Duck trail behind, wiping their boots off as they enter.

He waves Kirby away, understanding that whatever they were here for was serious. “What’s going on? He asks, shutting the door behind them.

“The abomination struck again,” Mama answers. “It killed someone who seemed to just be passing through.”

“Shit…” Ned whispers. “Who was it?”

“You see,” Aubrey says, weaving a small flame between her fingers. “We don’t know. He didn’t have any sort of identification on him or anything.”

“We do have one thing,” Duck adds. “The name the hotel room was under.”

“And what was that?” Ned leads them into the kitchen where he starts up the coffee maker. If they were going to be doing this, he needed to be fully awake. 

 

Aubrey snaps. “Oh yeah! It was something like Ben. No, Brian? Boyland?”

Mama shakes her head. “Boyd, I think. Boyd-”

“Boyd Mosche?” The words tumble from Ned’s mouth before he can stop them. All the while he’s telling himself that there are tons of other people in the world named Boyd. It could be literally any of them.  
“Yeah…” Duck says. “Yeah, I think that was it.”

The mug Ned was pulling from the cabinet falls from his hand and crashes to the ground, shattering upon impact. “Shit,” He mutters. “Shit.” He’s pretty sure someone’s saying his name, but he can’t hear them. The roaring of blood in his ears drowns out everything but his own thoughts. 

Boyd was dead. Boyd was dead and before he died Ned couldn’t even do him one last favor. Maybe he wouldn’t have died if he’d gotten that damn statue to him sooner. If he had left sooner the abomination wouldn’t have gotten to him and he wouldn’t be dead. 

Pain shoots across his right cheek, bringing him back to reality. Somehow, he’d crumpled to the floor. Shards of the ceramic mug lay dangerously scattered around his feet. Duck is crouched in front of him, hand still outstretched from slapping him. “Ow…” Ned groans and rubs his cheek.

“Are you alright, Ned?” Mama asks, concern filling her voice.

“Peachy. Must have blacked out for a second there.” He laughs, trying to cover the fact that he’d basically just had a breakdown in front of them. He can tell by their faces that they don’t believe the lie.

Aubrey rests a comforting hand on his shoulder. It feels wrong. If she knew what he’d done to her, if she knew that he was responsible for the events of that night, he had a feeling she would never speak to him again. “Did you know him?” 

He doesn’t have the energy to do anything but nod. 

There’s a moment of hesitation before Aubrey wraps him tightly in a warm hug. Ned doesn’t know how to respond. It’s been so long since he’d been touched affectionately, let alone hugged. He’s pretty sure tears form in the corners of his eyes, but he would die before admitting to crying like this. 

They stay like that until the coffee machine beeps. Aubrey helps Ned to his feet and to a chair at the table. Someone passes him a delicious smelling mug and he brings it to his lips. The coffee has no taste, but he downs it quickly anyway. 

Aubrey, Duck, and Mama leave, saying that they’ll update him when they get more information. Mama promises to tell Kirby that he’ll have to run the shop as well. 

Ned pays them no mind, how can he? His mind is running faster than he can keep up with and he finds himself more confused than anything. Why did he care so much? Boyd was the reason that they crashed that night. He was the reason Ned had to run for days, leaving everything he knew behind. 

He was also the reason Ned had ended up in Kepler in the first place, and Kepler had been nothing but kind to him. Victoria had taken him in even after he’d tried to rob her. The Sylphs had been mostly friendly, even though he’d accidentally gotten an FBI agent to set up shop in the middle of their home. The Pine Guard were the first real friends he’s had in ages- Kirby was more of a coworker than friend.

Even though he risked life and limb every two months to protect the people of this town, he wouldn’t trade the time he’d had in Kepler for anything. So maybe Boyd had done him a favor, crashing that car. Maybe he did owe him something. 

But he didn’t owe him turning his back on the people who cared for him. That he owed to no one.


End file.
